o badly to sleep
downstairs, you shall. The sofa by the fire is just as snug as your own
bed. What Mistress Batholommey will say to my giving in to a sick little
boy's whim, I don't know. But we don't care. Do we, Willem? And," he
added, reaching the living-room and carrying the child across to the
sofa, "if you want to be down here, and if you won't be happy anywhere
else, here you shall be."

He laid Willem gently on the couch and covered him with the quilt.

"How do you feel, now?" he asked.

"I'm sleepy," answered Willem. "It's good to be in this room. I'll sleep
finely here. Could--could I have a drink of water, please?"

The doctor crossed to the sideboard. The ice-water pitcher was empty.
McPherson took up a glass.

"I'll find you some," said he. "I suppose I'll never learn my way around
the labyrinths of this old house. But if I can't get to the nearest
faucet, I'll wake Marta and ask her to help me. Lie still. I'll be back
in a minute."

He picked up the lighted candle again, and started off on his quest. As
he left the room he passed close by Peter Grimm.

"Good-night, Andrew," said the Dead Man. "I'm afraid the world will have
to wait a little longer for the Big Guesser. The secret you've delved
for so long and so loudly was in your own hands this evening. And you
didn't know what to do with it."

The doctor left the room without hearing him. But Willem heard.
Starting up on the couch, the boy cried:

"Oh, Mynheer Grimm! _Where_ are you? I knew you were down here--That's
why I wanted to come."

"Here I am," answered the Dead Man, moving forward into the range of the
anxiously wandering blue eyes.

"Oh!" gleefully exclaimed the child. "I _see_ you now! I _see_ you now!"

"Yes? At last?"

"Oh, you've got your hat!" went on the boy excitedly. "It's off the peg.
You're going!"

"Yes, Willem," replied the Dead Man. "I'm going."

"Need you go right away, Mynheer Grimm?" coaxed the child. "Can't you
wait just a _little_ while?"

"I'll wait for _you_, dear lad," returned Peter Grimm.

"Oh, can I go with you?" asked the boy in glad surprise. "Thank you,
Mynheer Grimm! I couldn't find the way without you."

"Oh, yes, you could, Willem. God's signal light is the surest thing in
all the universe. But I'll wait for you, just the same."

The boy's drowsiness, overcome for the moment by his sight of the Dead
Man's loved face, had crept in upon him once more. He lay back on the
couch with a happy lit